Air-Blown Fiber Technology: Safe, Secure, Scalable Fiber System

Bryce Quay Sumitomo Electric Lightwave A Solution that has been around for over 20+ years!
55th Annual ISA Power Industry Division Symposium 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Air-Blown Fiber Technology: Safe, Secure, Scalable Fiber System

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas

TOPICS
Discover the differences and when and why to implement either traditional cabling or Air-Blown Fiber for your LAN and physically separate networks. 1.Definitions A. Traditional Cabling B. Air Blown Fiber Systems 2.Components 3.Summary of the East River Air-Blown Fiber Installation 4.How the Air-Blown Fiber System resolves safety hazards 5.Why & When it is Advisable to Deploy Each Solution 6.Case Studies 7.Conclusions

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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DEFINITIONS
Traditional cabling uses several techniques to install the fiber optic cable. Cables may be loose tube, dry core, ribbon, armored, non-armored or indoor or indoor/outdoor designs. Cables are installed by pulling the cable into conduit, innerduct, mesh ducts, aerial runs or direct buried. Air Blown Fiber (ABF) is a fiber optic cabling system which uses the viscous flow of air to carry small, light weight, multi-fiber bundles into previously installed tubes or tube cables at speeds of up to 150 feet/minute

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Traditional Cabling

OSP Loose Tube Armored OSP Ribbon Armored

OSP Loose Tube Dielectric

OFNR Ribbon

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Traditional Cabling
Traditional cabling typically requires the installation of dark fibers Traditional cabling also typically suggests/requires the installation of innerduct (traditional 1 or mesh fabric ) Installing additional cables requires the use of proper confined space techniques when installing in manholes May require the use of pulling equipment Bend radius & tensile stress

Innerduct

Mesh

Air blowing equipment

Pulling Equipment

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Traditional Cabling
Figure 8 Trenching Directional Boring

Inner-duct installation

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ABF Components
Tube Cables Fiber Bundles

Tube Distribution Equipment

Blowing Equipment
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55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas

ABF Tube Cables

Simple transitions between cables

Gen. Purpose
Tubes are numbered for ease of identification

Riser

Plenum

Dielectric

Thermal Enhanced

Armored
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55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas

ABF Tube Cables

Individual tubes are typically 6mm ID x 8mm OD Some are 3.5mm ID x 5mm OD Multiple tubes are sheathed to create a tube cable Tube cables are designed for appropriate installation environment Inside plant, outside plant, low smoke zero halogen, Class 1 Div. 1 & 2, armored and other special applications Tubes are connected with a push fit coupling Tubes and tube cables create the flexible pathway system
55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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ABF Benefits
Quick, Easy Installation
Fiber Bundles can be installed at speeds up to 150 feet per minute Installing 3,000 feet takes only 2 men 20 minutes

No Worksite Disruption / Improved Safety

Fiber Bundles are installed point-to-point through hazardous areas No need to have crews working overhead, on cable trays, or over operating equipment No need for lifts, ladders or other equipment which can present hazards to crews

Design a Tube Cable Pathway Solution for Your Facility

Changes to the routes can be made by re-connecting push fit couplers at TDUs Open tubes provide future proofing and flexibility Future requirements can be installed in hours instead of days, weeks or months 55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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ABF Tube Cables

Typical Configurations
1 12 2 5 7 6 1 10 11 18 19 17 9 8 4 3 7 16 6 15 5 13 14 4 1 2 3

4
1 2 3

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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ABF Cabling

2 19 Tube cables in 4 PVC Conduits

3 - 1 Innerduct in 4 PVC Conduit

38 Pathways vs. 3 Pathways

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Components ABF Fiber Bundles

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Components ABF Fiber Bundles

Most systems have the following fiber types available Single-mode; Low Water Peak OS1 1-Gigabit 50 Multimode OM2 Laser Optimized 10-Gigabit 50 Multimode 300 meter & 550 meter OM3 & OM4 62.5 Multimode OM2 Fiber Bundles will typically have 2- 24 fibers

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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ABF Tube Distribution Units

Indoor TDU

Tube Distribution Units

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Comparisons
Air-Blown Fiber Immediate scalability Keeps exact pace of emerging technology Blow out fiber and reuse anywhere in your network At speeds of up to 150 feet per minute, install any fiber type anytime and anywhere for easy and quick upgrades in a matter of minutes or hours Conventional Cabling Requires installation of additional cable, often taking weeks or months to plan and install Risk of dark fiber becoming obsolete Once dark fiber is laid, it is not reusable wasting investment dollars Upgrades reported to take up to 12 times longer and 10 times the cost of the air-blown fiber solution

Network Moves, Adds, & Changes

Capacity Control & Allocation

Maximizes conduit space and fiber pathways, Eliminates the need for additional conduit Tube cables provide simple demarcation of network components, destinations, and ownership

Consumes conduit space, limiting network expansion and potential capacity Leads to congested conduit, requiring installation of additional conduit Significant capacity in small OD

Planning & Budgeting

Eliminates forecasting future technology requirements Pay-As-You-Go budgeting Fast and easy installation reduces planning time, increases responsiveness and controls recurring costs for positive ROI Quick project turnaround

Requires guessing future network growth and other unpredictable variables Investment in dark fiber Extensive project planning slows turnaround, especially for emergencies and network restoration. High installation costs increase recurring costs, inhibiting ROI

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Tube Cables vs. Innerduct

Armored Tube Cable

Why use Armored Tube Cable instead of conduit, innerduct & conventional fiber?

2 19 Tube cables in 4 PVC Conduits

3 - 1 Innerduct in 4 PVC Conduit

Reduce PVC in OSP applications Green Reduce material & labor costs Reduce or eliminate manholes / handholes Reduce size of trench for cost savings Armored Tube Cable provides security protection for sensitive data applications

38 Pathways vs. 3 Pathways

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas

Case Study #1
Project Summary: Requires 12 strands of multimode fiber to be installed between 2 buildings in the Sharp Memorial Hospital Campus to improve FA system operation. Extensive duct bank system with manholes runs throughout the campus. Manholes are near a busy loading dock and in access areas to an important hospital administration building. For a traditional fiber optic installation, closing the dock and staff safety is an issue. For the Air-blown Fiber Infrastructure, it is not. ABF is not disruptive to the campus, since it requires no construction work Installation of additional fiber for traditional infrastructure further crowds conduit system, limiting network capacity Installation of ABF 4-Tube (only using 1 of 4 tubes), allows for 300% growth
55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Case Study #1
Actual Example 1 continued---(ABF & Conventional Pathways Already Installed)
Material & Labor ($75/hr)
1,200 12 strand multi-mode Fiber/ABF Fiber Bundles + misc. materials 4 Manhole Prep and safety set-up; pump manholes, verify air quality, pull strings etc Install innerduct or Maxell-type fiber protection through duct bank Install plenum innerduct (underground conduit to above ceiling to route FACP Install new 4 tube ABF from TDUs to on both sides of path to FACP Couple tube in TDUs, verify pathway, pressure & obstruction testing Labor to pull conventional fiber optic cable vs. blowing fiber via ABF 24 hrs 64 hrs 16 hrs 20 hrs 3 hrs 64 hrs vs. 4 hrs

Time

Conventional ($)
$2,160 fiber $1,000 misc. $1,800 labor $1,100 material $4,800 labor $180 material $1,200 labor ------------$4,800

Air-Blown Fiber ($)

$1,440 fiber bundle $500 ---------------------$560 material $1,500 labor $225 labor $300

TOTAL COST
(assumes termination costs are equal)

168 hrs vs. 27 hrs

$17,040

$4,525 (73% Savings)

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55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas

Air Blown Fiber Short Runs Very Long Runs (9+Km) High Count Cables (72+) No MAC's Flexibility Required MAC's Constant Unknown Future Hybrid Fibers

Traditional Cable

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Comparisons
Air-Blown Fiber 1. 2. 3. Install Tube Cable Install Fiber Bundle Terminate & Test 1. 2. 3. 4. Conventional Cabling Install Inner-duct Install Cable Splice/Connect ISP to OSP Cable Terminate & Test

Installation Steps

Adding Fiber Count or Type

Repeat 2 & 3

Repeat 1, 2, 3 & 4

Maintaining Operations

Blowing fiber creates no work site disruption Fiber is blown easily anywhere at any time, including restricted access areas Continuous point-to-point, splice-free connectivity between and within buildings reduces attenuation for better transmission and signal integrity

Pulling of cables disrupts operations Difficulties, disruption, and additional expense when installing in restricted access areas

Network Integrity

Necessitates splicing and connection at various points between and within buildings, adding further labor costs, increasing attenuation, and points of failure

Time & Labor Savings

3,000 feet of fiber can be blown in 30 minutes with only 2 installers

It typically takes one-8 hour day with a minimum of 4 skilled installers to pull 3,000 feet of fiber optic cable

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Power / Energy Customers

Tennessee Valley Nuclear Southern Nuclear Cooper Nuclear Wolf Creek Nuclear Callaway Nuclear Con Edison TOTAL (Atofina) Conoco Phillips Valero BP Shell Tesoro Marathon Alyeska Pipeline

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Power / Energy Customers

Watts Bar

Browns Ferry

Sequoyah

Bellefonte
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55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas

East River

Farrugut

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55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas

Case Study #2 ConEd East River

The facility was transitioning their automation control systems from copper to fiber due to electrostatic interference, while dealing with an existing pathway that was convoluted and hazardous, high over live equipment, and very congested. System connected Con Edisons East River substation control house to the substation yards. Field boxes in yards were installed to support the new breakers, switches, transformers, critical assets to SCADA & SAS and other automated control systems in a continuous, splice-free fiber run. With conventional cabling systems construction crews would have to re-enter ceilings and all conduit pathways multiple times, first to pull innerduct and then to pull the fiber optic cable Risking potential fiber damage, outages, and causing needless disruption to the substation facility. A conventional cabling system also would have required the installation of dark fiber that typically has a 5 to 6 year life cycle, making upgrades an expensive and labor intensive endeavor.

ConEdison needed to deploy fiber based SAS for its East River Station. ABF Tube Cable installed in cable tray and conduit runs 40 feet above ground over operating generating station. Crews installed 7,000 feet of TC04MSOS, 7,000 feet of TC07MSOS and 5,000 feet of TC19MSOS. Provided spare tubes from Control House out to all yard station SAS field boxes. Crews were able to install fiber from Control House to each of the 28 field boxes without leaving Control House Installed 30,000 feet of 12 fiber SM and 28,000 feet of 12 fiber 50/125mm (OM2) Total Installed Cost of ABF - $234,743.00 Total Cost to Install Conventional - $588,754.00 A Savings of $354,000 55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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FutureFLEXs splice-free fiber run eliminated potential points of failure, significantly increasing the reliability of all critical assets and process control systems, which, if compromised, could impact the integrity of the electric grid.

55th Annual ISA POWID Symposium, 4-6 June 2012, Austin, Texas
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Infrastructure
In a typical Conventional OSP F/O infrastructure: Underground cable, the engineering, right of way, permitting, construction, splicing and testing costs represent more than 90% of the F/O OSP networks first costbefore the first cable is purchased!
<source: KMI Research>

That explains why F/O networks are overbuilt with Dark Fiber.

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Thank You!

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QUESTIONS?

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